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Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Genesis Model 1+ speakers

I have had these speakers for a few months now and they were in need of some crossover attention when I bought them.

Genesis is a spin off of EPI or Epicure speakers of which I am always a fan of. Very simple designed, requiring minimal crossover components. The woofer and tweeter are designed to roll off at their crossover point naturally.

This pair I bought already had the woofers refoamed, the crossover panel was worse for wear. The spring clips were broken and the glue holding them to the cabinet was no longer bonding the plate to the cabinet.

I opted to use MDF 5"x5" board that I cut. I installed new gold plated binding post to accept banana plugs. Upgraded the capacitor to a Solen polypropylene cap, and installed 18 gauge audiophile speaker wire.

The cabinets were a bit rough, some wax was on the vinyl veneer and on the speaker grill cloth. I cleaned all that up.




This pair of Genesis still had the QC tags on the front baffle, I opted to leave them on as you do not see this attention to detail in today's gear.


I kept the original serial # tags as these speakers are 20 off each other in production.


I always like the sound of the EPI 100 and the Genesis Model 1 is the equivalent to the EPI. Excellent bass from a sealed 8 inch woofer and the inverted dome is smooth as silk. These are highly musical speakers. The bass is almost on par with the  New Large Advents with 10" woofers and the mid range and highs or on par with the Dynaco A35's.

These are truly a wonderful speakers and always a pleasure to restore. I think I have done at least a dozen pairs now.



Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Onkyo 8CX-A1 Coaxial Speakers

Slowly this audiophile is exploring the idea of open baffle speakers, I have been collecting rare and one off coaxial and triaxial speakers.

This pair of super rare but in mint shape Onkyo 8CX-A1 speakers were purchased on eBay. They flew over from London England to be part of my world. The workmanship and attention to detail is not found in modern day speakers from China.

Onkyo has a history page in where the original 8CX range was born in 1956.








The plan is to have these installed in an open baffle system with a Foster 10" alnico woofer for the bottom end from this pair of Noresco NEC-571 speakers. There is also a crossover in this speaker that will cross to the Onkyo around 600hz. At 100db efficiency these will suit the tube amps perfectly.

More to follow on the evolution of this project.

Speakerlab Super 7 and a Push Pull Tube Amp

This has been the cause of the lack of postings for the past month.

Audio nirvana has hit with the combination of the Speakerlab Super 7's and the push pull tube amp.

It has evoked a minimum of 2 hours an evening of listening with a few solid 12-14 hour days of non stop music thrown in.




At this point in the journey, not to much can touch this combo.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Current Speakerholic H.Q.




Pioneer SX-6 Receiver

The Champagne series from Pioneer marked the turning point from cool products to computer controlled gizmo receivers before the advent of Black Plastic Crap and Home Theatre.

Still pretty cool, I remember this series well.

This unit is 45WPC





Vintage Heathkit UA-1 Mono block WA-P2 Tube pre amp with tuner

A while back I purchased the Heathkit WA-P2 pre amp and tuner on speculation that perhaps I could start to piece together a era correct Heathkit stereo.


Last night the UA-1 mono block came my way without tubes, luckily I have a few spare EL84's and a spare 6CA4 rectifier tube. I still need to pick up a 6AN8 phase splitter tube but threw in the 6AQ8 for picture purpose only.



This system presently will run in mono only, I would need a second WA-P2 pre amp and UA-1 to run a second channel. I will keep my eyes open and see what comes my way.

This is the system as it sits now. I have yet to power it up and will take it to a local tech to bring it to power on a step up transformer.

There is a good write up on how amazing the UA-1 or the UA-2 amps are here.


Sunday, November 27, 2016

Speakerholic 2016 Sale

I am pairing back some of my more prized speakers and audio gear locally in Vancouver. All in Canadian dollars.

The following are up for sale.

Large Advent $200.00 Sold

Henry Kloss best speaker with the fried egg tweeter, re foamed woofer, a classic.



The Smaller Advent Sold


Henry Kloss more affordable brother to the Large Advent. Woofer re foamed and good for years to come.




Dual CL 390 $300.00

On of the speakers that started of the obsession of this blog. Used in German recording studios at one time. All Braun quality drivers, stunning speakers to listen too, rarely seen in North America.


University RRL-12 $400.00

Completely refurbished with Erse and Solen Caps, near flawless cabinets, a true classic speakers from the 60's, immaculate condition.



Sound Dynamics 500 Concert Monitors  Decided to retain these speakers

Re foamed woofers, new Solen Caps, 4 way gold binding post installed, rebuilt horn tweeter, stunning speaker and the finest incarnation of this series of API speakers. The horn tweeter works wonderfully with tube amps and is best paired with one.




Reynolds Advance A2 Sold

Hands down one of the best soft dome tweeters ever produced the Peerless tweeter is matched with incredible bottom end in these speakers. A break off group started the Advance Speaker company from EPI Genesis crowd. Re foamed passive radiator. New grill cloth.


Carver 6250 Receiver $200.00 Sold

125 watts per channel from legendary Bob Carver. Sonic Holograph sound gives this solid state receiver a tube like sound with great mid range imaging and depth.



Contact me at bankofdave at gmail